solteirovssorteioTell them apart

Quick tell: solteiro is a adjective, sorteio is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“solteiro” is an adjective and “sorteio” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,241
“solteiro” frequency rank
#4,767
“sorteio” frequency rank
11008
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature solteiro sorteio
Definition que não é casado método de distribuição de algo indivisível entre vários, dos que um só será agraciado, baseado em fórmulas de casualidade, de acaso; ato de rifar (sortear)

Where the eye mixes solteiro and sorteio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
solteiro
7 ch
sorteio

Look-alike desk: solteiro vs sorteio

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: solteiro is /sow.ˈtej.ɾu/ while sorteio is /suɾ.ˈtɐj.u/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11008, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

solteiro is recorded at frequency rank #6,241, classified as anadj, pronounced /sow.ˈtej.ɾu/. sorteio is at rank #4,767, tagged as anoun, pronounced /suɾ.ˈtɐj.u/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 11008, this pair ranks #61,951 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of solteiro vs sorteio

Shared letters: eiorst. Private to "solteiro": l. Private to "sorteio": -.

"solteiro" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV  ·  "sorteio" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • solteirooslteiro · sloteiro · soletiro · sollteiro · solteior · solteirro · solterio · soltiero
  • sorteioosrteio · soretio · sorrteio · sorteoi · sortieo · sortteio · sotreio · sroteio

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "solteiro" and "sorteio" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "solteiro" is an adjective and "sorteio" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "solteiro" or "sorteio" show up more?
"sorteio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,767 in our Portuguese list, against #6,241 for "solteiro". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "solteiro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sorteio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,951 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "solteiro" and "sorteio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "santeiro vs solteiro". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #61,951 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list